Simulating the mechanical response of asphalt pavement under falling weight dynamic loading

To obtain a large number of dynamic mechanical responses of asphalt pavement structures under falling weight dynamic (FWD) loading in order to construct a deep learning training set, a method for transforming the dynamic–static mechanical responses of pavements based on a theoretical solution of the layered elastic system was constructed. Firstly, Abaqus was used to establish a three-dimensional mechanical analysis model of an asphalt pavement considering structural damping and to calculate the dynamic mechanical response of a typical pavement structure. Then, the main factors affecting the dynamic mechanical response of pavement surfaces structures were thoroughly analysed and a multi-variate regression analysis method was used to establish a transformation model for the dynamic and static mechanical responses of a three-layer basic pavement structure system. Finally, using a structural conversion method, the conversion model was extended to a multi-layer asphalt pavement structure to complete the calculation of the dynamic mechanical response. The measured dynamic mechanical response under FWD loading was found to be very consistent with the calculation results based on the proposed method, meaning that the model is reliable and accurate.